But van Aerts departure from the team throws the Roompot merger into doubt.

Spokesperson for Sniper Cycling, Ward Callens, said: “The only thing I can say about this is that we will have a pro continental team with 100% certainty in 2019.

“I can not make any concrete statements about the merger with Roompot.”

Roompot director Michael Zijlaard told Dutch news website ad.nl: “We agree that we want to merge. But the basis of this was that both teams had an input, with the input of Wout van Aert on the Belgian side.

“Now we have to keep the peace, put down where we are and see if all partners are still on board.”